Speech at the 18th Sheriffs Confederation Philippines National Convention

Medyo kakaiba po ang aking pakiramdam ngayon—at malamang kayo rin—dahil alam naman nating lahat na we come from different sides of the fence in the government. I am from the legislative branch, whereas you all hail from the judiciary.

Anyway, kidding aside, I warmly congratulate you on your National Convention for this year. At this early juncture, please allow me to first highlight the importance of your assembly. Because of this, your particular unit in the larger scheme of the judicial branch of government is afforded the opportunity to accumulate and listen to all the local experiences—both good and bad—of court sheriffs from all over the country, and consolidate them into this centralized repository of information made possible by this forum.

Then, to ensure maximum effect, please make sure that all these compiled data and the collective wisdom of the group, as well as your analyses and findings and your appropriate recommendations, are properly reported afterwards to the Supreme Court, for its appropriate and timely action.

So let’s all take advantage of this very valuable opportunity for you to self-diagnose your particular sector and recommend the appropriate solutions to the Supreme Court, in order to protect your own interests and welfare as a distinct component of the judiciary.
Kaya naman maganda rin na nandirito upang makinig sa inyo ang mga kinatawan mula sa Office of the Court Administrator at sa Court Management Office ng ating Korte Suprema.

In essence, court sheriffs are tasked to execute and implement final judgments, which, in the words of the Supreme Court, are the “fruit and end of the lawsuit” and the “life of the law”, and which, if not enforced, are mere “empty victories on the part of the prevailing parties”. Thus, this essential task of court sheriffs, according to the Supreme Court, is deemed a “major component of the ideal administration of justice”.

The expectations are high, and the standards, very exacting. In fact, court sheriffs are held to the same high standards set for judges and other judicial employees.

But if we analyze the plantilla positions of court sheriffs, they are just given items with either Salary Grade 10 or Salary Grade 12. Wala pa sa kalahati ng Salary Grade ng isang Judge o maging ng isang Clerk of Court.

Then, if court sheriffs fail to implement a final judgment, the Supreme Court said that a presumption is created that they are either “waiting for additional financial consideration” from the winning party, or that they have “already received a bribe from the losing party” to precisely delay the implementation.

These humble observations of mine lead to the analysis that court sheriffs need to be more encouraged and empowered, not merely in their morale, but more importantly, in their economic situation. Perhaps it is high time to consider the upgrading of the salary grades of court sheriffs. Their salary grades should be made commensurate to their functions and service to the judiciary!

Court sheriffs should also be adequately staffed and given sufficient resources to form and assemble an ably capacitated and secured implementation team. This is because in case of failure to execute, sheriffs face the dreadful possibility of dismissal from the service. Thus, they should be fairly afforded reasonable means and wherewithal to accomplish such a very daunting task with dreadful consequences.

The dignity of their office too needs to be strengthened further. The Office of the Court Sheriff should be accorded the ample respect and dignity due and that befit its official functions. Indeed, if it is true that in the course of their work in the field, they carry with them the image and name of the judiciary, then they should likewise be treated with equal honor and respect, just as our honorable judicial magistrates.

Considering unfortunate incidents that befell and continue to befall court sheriffs in the course of their work, perhaps it is also high time to consider granting them a form of “hazard pay” to counterbalance all the occupational risks and hazards attendant to their official functions.

Considering the nature of their functions, court sheriffs are true “agents of law” or “law enforcers” in their own right. They too partake in the very important State function of maintaining “rule of law” in our society—in their case, a “rule of case law or jurisprudence” or a “rule of civil law”. Again, without them, case law would be mere words and empty victories.

Through the court sheriffs’ indispensable role, justice indeed comes full circle. As such, court sheriffs equally deserve a rightful and glorified place in the judiciary, which is popularly perceived to be the “domain of lawyers”.

Kung ang mga judges at mga abogado ang tinaguriang mga “UTAK” ng hudikatura, ang mga court sheriffs naman ang siyang “MUSCLE” o “KALAMNAN” nito! Though substantially different in nature, your ministerial functions serve to complement those of adjudication towards the same desired results of a complete, effective and efficient administration of justice and in the maintenance of rule of law in our country.

To end, all these humble opinions of a legislator—an outsider to the judiciary—need further refinement and elaboration from your kindred minds. I hope that these ruminations can provoke thought and inspire action in you, and also prove to be useful in your findings, analyses and your eventual report to the Supreme Court, which has the last say about the way our judiciary is organized and run—consistent with our well-settled ideals of an independent and autonomous judiciary.

So, my dear friends, let me end on that high note. Once again, I congratulate all of you as you head on to the first day of your National Convention. I hope and wish that you will all have a very inspired, productive and meaningful Convention.